The volume of design data available via the search tool DesignView has lately been significantly increased.

The members giving access to their specific design data include the following: the Austrian patent Office (ÖPA), the Spanish Patent and Trade Mark Office (OEPM), the Danish Patent and Trademark Office (DKPTO), the Mexican Institute of industrial Property (IMPI), the Moroccan Industrial and Commercial Property Office (OMPIC), the Norwegian Industrial Property Office (NIPO) and the Federal Service for Intellectual Property of Russia (Rospatent).

The European Commission is creating an extensive list of economists, researchers and experts to jumpstart a series of workshops on major issues in relation to the enforcement of intellectual property rights in the European Union.

This initiative is moreover accentuated by Directive 2004/48/EC on the enforcement of IPR as well as the Commission’s proposal for a Directive on trade secrets.

During recent decades, the R&D field has witnessed a rise in technological complexity. This entails the presence of a pool of intellectual property (IP) rights within the most advanced products and services. Also considering that the number of patent filings increases steadily, companies therefore have to rely on third party IP rights to innovate.

A natural outcome of this multi-invention background is the need for companies to cooperate with other research and technology development performers (RTDs) in order to produce innovative solutions.

This fact sheet aims to highlight the importance of the open innovation model as an opportunity for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as well as for research and technology organisations (RTOs), and to highlight the issues to be taken into account for a proper management of IP when innovating through open approaches.

The European Patent Office (EPO) has published a new product that builds directly on and extends the Patent Teaching Kit. Developed in co-operation with the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM), the IP Teaching Kit is a much more extensive set of teaching materials that covers all kinds of intellectual property.

IP Basics, the first part of the kit, has just been released and provides the tools to give students from a whole range of different levels and backgrounds lectures and presentations on not only patents, copyright, trade marks and designs, but also smaller areas such as utility models and geographical indications.

The remaining two parts of the kit, IP Advanced and IP Search Tools, will be published in the coming months.

We are pleased to inform you that the European IPR Helpdesk has updated its Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) that can now be used independently of the kind of negotiations that you enter into, both in the context of EU-funded projects and for international partnerships.

In addition to that, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for Horizon 2020 has been created. Alongside the one already available for FP7, the new document reflects the few changes brought by the new Horizon 2020 rules.

All these templates can be found and freely downloaded in the European IPR Helpdesk online library, under useful documents.

The “IP Key” project is the European Commission’s financial vehicle for the EU-China New Intellectual Property Cooperation, an agreement between the EU and China. IP Key is a three-year project, ending in 2016, implemented by the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM) in partnership with the European Patent Office (EPO). Its aim is to facilitate development of an IP framework in China for EU businesses that is increasingly effective, fair, transparent, and otherwise based upon international best practices.

This activity aims to gather questions from European businesses, government bodies, and other European institutions on the workings of the Chinese utility model system. The purpose of this exchange is: (1) to provide European stakeholders clarity on the workings of China’s utility model system; (2) use this clarity to inform discussions on utility model patent quality; and (3) create an opportunity to let the Chinese government learn more about the utility model systems in Europe, and through this set the foundation for best-practices sharing at the SIPO-IP Key utility model patent seminar to be held in May 2014.

All questions will be collated and combined into one document, with askers’ names remaining anonymous, and sent by IP Key to SIPO (by early April 2014). SIPO’s answers, which IP Key will request to be as detailed as possible, will be returned to those participating in the questionnaire drafting (in late April 2014). Likewise, SIPO is compiling a questionnaire on the workings of the utility model systems in different EU Member States which will be answered and returned to SIPO.

To complete the questionnaire,please click here. The deadline for submission is 18:00, 26th February.

IP Marketplace is managed by the Danish Patent and Trademark Office and is an online display window where you can look for trading partners and other kinds of partnership. IP Marketplace is free of charge for both buyers and sellers.

At IP Marketplace you can put your patents, patent applications, utility models, design and trade marks - so-called IP rights - up for sale or out-licensing. You can also use IP Marketplace when searching for IP rights to buy or in-license, or when you are looking for partners for innovation projects that build on patentable knowledge.

We are pleased to inform you that the European IPR Helpdesk has released a new fact sheet on the "Exploitation channels for public research results".

This fact sheet has the aim to present tools, tips and practices for public research organisations (PROs) to convert the knowledge resulting from publicly funded research activities into socio-economic benefits. This can be achieved in different ways, not only through direct commercialisation tools, but also via collaborative or contract research conducted in co-operation with or commissioned by the industry. In so doing, the dissemination and transfer of the generated knowledge to the market would therefore be ensured, with the objective of creating products and services to enhance social welfare.